Design and construction of a mechanical oscilloscope

Abstract

A complete analysis of many of the complex problems which harass the brains and tax the ingenuity of engineers and scientists of this machine age would be almost possible if not very difficult without a method of dissecting the phenomena which take place. Most or nearly all physical phenomena may be resolved into two elements or directions, one of these being proportional to elapsed time and the other proportional to the amplitude of the change under observation with respect to an arbitrary line taken as zero. When these two changes are combined into one the result is usually what may be aptly compared to the cross section of an ocean wave. The height of the wave being comparable to the amplitude and the distance from crest to crest being comparable to the wave length. The oscillograph and the oscilloscope are assuming more and more this burden of analysing transient and recurrent actions. The oscillograph leaves a permanent record of the changes taking place while the oscilloscope enables the phenomenon to be observed directly. Oscillo is derived from the Latin meaning to swing back and forth and graph and scope freely translated mean write and see. The difficulty of showing this action in a portable device which needed little or no adjusting was the incentive for undertaking the building a mechanical oscilloscope. The author wishes to express his sincere appreciation of the aid and assistance Given by the members of the teaching staff in the Department of Physics. Their helpful criticism has aided greatly in shaping this work.